Introduction

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, our net sales came to 499.6 billion yen. Operating profit amounted to 55.3 billion yen and ordinary profit amounted to 75.8 billion yen. Profit attributable to owners of parent was 45.5 billion yen. In Japan, both sales and profits declined due to sluggish performance of the Yakult 1000 series. Overseas, while sales and profits increased due to growth in the Americas, overall consolidated sales and profits declined.

We announced consolidated results forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026 of 506.0 billion yen in net sales, 58.5 billion yen in operating profit, 74.5 billion yen in ordinary profit, 49.0 billion yen in profit attributable to owners of parent, and 167.13 yen in basic earnings per share.

In Japan, the reduced sugar product in the Yakult 1000 series is now available in both home delivery and retail store channels, and we intend to once again increase opportunities to approach customers and build up sales volume. Overseas, performance in the Americas will continue to grow, and the Asia and Oceania region will boost the overall performance by moving from bottoming out to regrowth.

Changes to shareholder return policy and dividends

We also announced a change in our shareholder return policy in February 2025.

Regarding shareholder returns, we consider the stable and continuous return of profits to be a top management priority. As for dividends, the Company places the highest priority on continuously increasing dividends based on the concept of progressive dividend payments. The amount of dividends will be determined by comprehensively taking into consideration the Company’s financial situation and financial needs for future business expansion and earnings enhancement, as well as the Company’s business performance for the fiscal year under review.

For the current fiscal year, we have increased the dividend by JPY2 per share and announced an annual dividend forecast of JPY66 per share. In addition, the Company will flexibly purchase treasury stock with a target total payout ratio of 70%, taking into consideration market conditions, cash flow, and other factors. The Company expects to repurchase more than JPY100 billion of its own shares by FY2030.

Initiatives in each segment

Food and Beverage Business (Japan)

Overall daily sales of dairy products during the previous year were approximately 9.68 million bottles, a decrease of 8.8% YoY. In the current fiscal year, we will focus on increasing the number of bottles of the Yakult 1000 series, which is one of our main products and which contributes significantly to profits. Factoring in this finish, we have set a target of 9.8 million bottles of overall dairy product sales for the current fiscal year.

Yakult 1000 series

The daily sales volume for the previous fiscal year was 3.01 million bottles, down 5.7% YoY. The rapid increase in demand has run its course, and the number of bottles sold is gradually declining.

As demand increased, there were more opportunities for products with new functional claims to be picked up by many people. However, we recognize an issue in that the value of our product was not fully conveyed, and as a result, many people did not continue to drink it.

On the other hand, the home delivery channel product Yakult 1000 Toshitsu Off and the retail store channel product Y1000 Toshitsu Off were commercialized in response to customer concerns about carbohydrate and sugar content, calories, and sweetness in the Yakult 1000 series. With the launch of these products, we hope to further introduce them to customers who have ceased consuming our products and to new customers, thereby increasing the number of people who continue to drink our products.

For the current fiscal year, we have set a daily sales target of 3.3 million bottles of Yakult 1000 series.

The combined sales target for Yakult 1000 and Yakult 1000 Toshitsu Off sold through the home delivery channel is 2.1 million bottles.

As for the status of Yakult 1000 Toshitsu Off , we have been introducing the product to our existing customers first, and many are switching to regular consumption of this product. Our current performance has reached 1 million bottles per day, leading us to feel that the product has been well accepted by everyone.

We are currently working on building a new customer base, but we believe it will take some time before they understand our products and continue to drink them. It will be some time before the boost from new customers will be seen in the actual results.

In the retail store channel, Y1000 Toshitsu Off was launched nationwide in April 2025. The combined sales target for Y1000 and Y1000 Toshitsu Off for this fiscal year is 1.2 million bottles.

Y1000 and Y1000 Toshitsu Off are now on store shelves, and exposure is increasing due to active sales promotion activities and PR development of interest in many media outlets. Although there are some cannibalizations with conventional products, many people have been waiting for a reduced sugar offering, and we believe that our performance will gradually improve. April results are under scrutiny, but we believe we are off to a good start.

Food and Beverage Business (Overseas)

Looking back at overall overseas unit sales for the previous fiscal year, although unit sales for the full year were slightly lower than the previous year, unit sales in Q3 and Q4 were higher than the previous year, partly due to the bottoming out of results in China. And in Q1 of this fiscal year, it has continuously exceeded the previous year’s level.

Although there are still disparities among offices, we plan to boost overall growth by maintaining stable growth at offices with stable growth and moving from the bottom to the recovery phase at offices with lower growth than in the previous year.

Yakult U.S.A. Inc.

Unit sales growth in the last fiscal year exceeded 5%, reaching a record high. The number of stores we trade with is steadily increasing, and we now ship to approximately 20,000 stores. However, this is still not even half of the target stores, so there is still room to expand our sales channels. While the West Coast, where the Company has been in the market for some time and is generally well served, there are many stores in the center of the country and on the East Coast that are less exposed, and efforts to increase the number of units sold per store are needed.

In terms of production, we are running out of supply capacity at our California plant, so we will work to improve capacity utilization and operating efficiency to meet demand and ensure that our production exceeds the previous year’s level.

In view of the need to increase supply capacity in light of future demand, we are constructing a new plant in the southeastern state of Georgia to begin production in September 2026. The plant is about six times larger than the California plant, and in addition to increasing production of existing products, it can also produce environmentally conscious products and high-value-added products.

Yakult S.A. De C.V. (Mexico)

Unit sales growth in the last fiscal year exceeded 3%, reaching a record high. A long time has passed since the Company entered the market, and a high level of understanding and penetration of its products is the foundation for stable growth. In Mexico, we have raised prices every year, and we did so again this fiscal year in February in line with rising prices. On top of that, the number of units sold has remained steady. It remains the driving force behind increased profits.

Yakult Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Vietnam)

Unit sales growth in the last fiscal year was approximately 20%, the highest ever. There is a great deal of room for deepening the business by expanding sales areas and increasing the number of units per store, and it is one of the companies with high potential for future growth. Double-digit growth is expected in the current fiscal year due to steady expansion of sales channels.

Guangzhou Yakult Co., Ltd., Yakult (China) Corporation

Unit sales in the previous fiscal year declined approximately 8%. However, while H1 was down approximately 17% YoY, H2 showed a bottoming out of the market with an increase of approximately 3%. Although consumption is expected to remain sluggish due to deteriorating economic sentiment, we implemented a series of sales policies through a trial-and-error process, and the results were evident in H2.

Q1 of this fiscal year also exceeded the previous year. We will continue to develop short-, medium-, and long-term initiatives in parallel, evaluating results and revising measures as we move forward to make our activities more effective.

In addition to the recovery of sales volume, we will continue to review expenses to ensure profitability to the greatest extent possible. As the most recent measure, Yakult Muscat Flavor was launched in April 2025. This product is a follow-up to the Yakult Peach Flavor (Iron Plus) launched last year.

The goal is not to shift the focus of product initiatives to flavor development but to create opportunities for attracting customers’ interest and encouraging them to pick up the product. The foundation of the product will remain the same as before with the appeal of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota.

PT. Yakult Indonesia Persada

Unit sales in the previous fiscal year declined approximately 9%. Although the slowdown in consumption has had a significant impact, the YoY decline has narrowed with each passing quarter. For the current fiscal year, we believe a positive turnaround is a must-achieve goal.

We are also proceeding with distribution to supermarkets, campaigns utilizing social media, and opening official stores on e-commerce platforms. We are also preparing popular products suitable for the Indonesian market as a lateral development of the product policy that has been successful in China. We are planning to implement measures in many areas, which we believe will surely lead to the development of demand.

In addition, since the Yakult Lady organization serves as a bolster for the company when economic sentiment is, we would like to make further progress in improving the organization and maximizing the power of our approximately 11,000 yakult ladies in this year.

Conclusion